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When I think of therapy dogs, I think of dogs assisting blind or disabled people. It turns out dogs can be “Tail Waggin’ Tutors” as well. Yep! Dogs can help teach kids to read! Actually, the dogs are trained to just sit still and listen, which is something we helpful adults are not very good at. We want to assist, correct, comment, make sure that the book is being held properly; the dog just listens uncritically and that’s the beauty of the thing. A struggling reader gets to hear her own voice reading aloud without fear of criticism. There’s no chance of the dog-listener being a better reader than the child, there’s only the warm, furry, adoring animal hanging on every sounded out, stuttered, mispronounced, or made-up word. Suddenly, the poorest of readers can just….read!
It was only a week or so after I heard about this program that a friend happened to show me a picture of her grandson who’d discovered the joy of reading to a dog (or dogs!) all on his own. He just rounded up his canine audience in his back yard and, being very careful to turn the book so the dogs could enjoy the illustrations, read to them!
I became so excited thinking about all of this that I have decided By The Power Vested In Me (please don’t ask where I might have come by said “Vested Power”!) to declare this official READ TO YOUR DOG WEEK!